Pages

Sunday, May 2, 2010

Doughnut Macarons

Yes, your eyes do not deceive you. I've had doughnuts on the brain. I blame you Lisa! I've been in a macaron-making mood. And then I had one of those *ding* lightbulb above the head moments. Doughnuts...macarons...dougharons...macanuts?! I'm not sure what to call them but I made them. Doughnut macarons, flavoured with a hint of cinnamon and brown sugar, with strawberry jam buttercream. I have to tell you, these are the BEST tasting macarons I've ever made.

They were probably not my best/prettiest batch technique-wise, my oven temperature was low which meant they had a big ugly space under the shell, and I forgot to add an extra baking sheet so they overcooked slightly, but ohhh my god the strawberry jam buttercream is so good. How have I never thought of adding strawberry jam to buttercream before?

Yes, I did pipe them so they had little holes in the middle. And yes, trying to do this was a total pain in the a**. I did it by hand, piping spirals/circles with a slightly narrower piping tip than usual, but even then, most of them spread out and the holes in the middle disappeared. I eventually gave up halfway and settled for piping mini macaron shells. I couldn't decide whether I wanted to top them with sprinkles or cinnamon. So I did both!

To be honest, even though the ones covered with sprinkles were so cute that they made me squee as I saw them rising in the oven, the cinnamon ones tasted more awesome. I think it was just that extra bit of baked cinnamon on top that made them taste just like jam filled doughnuts. Even my brother, who really doesn't like macarons, said that he could eat more of them and they were his favourite macaron flavour so far. I usually can't handle eating more than one or two of my own macarons, but I kept sneaking back to the kitchen to have another one of these little babies.

I'm not going to lie, I had SO much fun making these. I love ideas like these that randomly come to me and it's so satisfying when they are actually edible, haha! And though it was messy and difficult to pipe them so they looked like doughnuts, I think it was worth it, and it looks better coming out of the oven than it did going in. But I totally don't blame you if you just wanna try regular macaron shells, I still thought the mini round ones looked just as cute. I'm still a semi-beginner when it comes to macarons, and I have a long way to go in terms of improving my technique, so I'm just happy when my shells have feet.

It was my first time trying brown sugar in my macarons, I was worried about the moisture in the sugar so I dried it out in the oven the same way I dry out my almond meal, which I think helped a lot. Plus it was one of those perfectly dry days when you just have that feeling that your macarons are not going to fail completely. I've gotta tell you, if you don't even like eating macarons, but you feel like making them, just try these without the silly piping and they might be enough to make you like them. They are so cute and yummy!

I feel like a repeat myself a lot with the little tips and tricks in my macaron recipes (and I tend to forget to write down a lot of the little things I do), so I'm thinking of just writing up a list of things that I always try to remember when making macarons. But I feel a bit lame trying to give out advice about macaron making when I am still a total amateur. So for the moment, if you have issues or questions about the recipe below, feel free to leave a comment or send me an email :)

Line two baking sheets with baking paper. Place icing sugar in food processor and pulse for a minute to remove any lumps. Stir in almond meal and pulse a few times to combine. Place in a large mixing bowl and sift in powdered cinnamon.

Beat egg whites and egg white powder in a medium mixing bowl until the egg white powder dissolves and it reaches soft peaks. With the mixer on high speed, gradually add brown and caster sugar and beat until it reaches stiff peaks. This mixture will be slightly darker than your usual macaron meringue.

Add meringue to your dry mixture and mix, quickly at first to break down the bubbles in the egg white, then fold carefully as the dry mixture becomes incorporated. Take care not to overmix, the mixture should flow like lava and a streak of mixture spread over the surface of the rest of the mixture should disappear after 30 seconds to a minute. Place in a piping bag and pipe small 2cm rounds for mini macarons. If you are attempting to create the doughnut shaped shells, use a smaller round tip and pipe in a circle (3cm diameter), leaving a 0.5cm diameter hole in the centre of each. Gently rap your baking sheets on your bench top to remove any extra bubbles from your piped shells. Dust tops with cinnamon or sprinkles.

Preheat your oven to 140-150 degrees C (temperature varies depending on your oven). Leave shells on bench to dry for about an hour, so that when you press the surface of one gently it does not break. Place on top of an overturned roasting tray or another baking sheet if they are not professional grade. Bake for 13-15 minutes, depending on the size of your shells. Remove from the oven and cool on the tray for a few minutes, then gently remove from the sheet and place on a wire rack to cool completely.

Remove the butter 30 minutes before you prepare the buttercream. Beat butter until smooth in a medium mixing bowl with an electric mixer and then add icing sugar and beat until combined. Add strawberry jam and beat until combined, you can adjust to taste. When smooth, it can be spooned on to shells and sandwiched. Refrigerate in an airtight container to store, serve at room temperature.

So I still can't decide...dougharons or macanuts? I think macanuts has a catchy ring to it but it also sounds kinda wrong...

I cant even get normal macarons to work and you got donut ones!!! How freakin awesome!! this is by far the best thing I've seen this month....ok its only the start of may, but I reckon it will be hard to top!!

Gg_Obaachan - if you have a food processor or some sort of grinder you can use whole or blanched almonds and process until fine. However I don't think this will be quite as fine as the almond meal you can buy in the store.

Wow wow wow, those are super cute. Macarons are like my baking nemesis :( I'm up to attempt 5 or 6 now. I age the egg whites, sift the almond meal and icing sugar, count my folds as I mix it all together and leave them to dry before baking... all the tips and tricks I've read about but those little feet just continue to elude me *sigh*

katbrown - awww I'm so sorry you've had so much trouble with them, it's so frustrating when something just doesn't work out no matter what you do :( Usually a lack of feet is due to undermixing the final mixture. I think drying out your almond meal in a low temp oven might possibly help a bit too

Yen - Oh good luck!! The piping is pretty tricky, it took me a few practices to get it right. I think I used a 0.5cm piping tip but I'd just recommend a bit of trial and error to see what works for you!

Great, thanks! :D Try and try again I will :)Just another question - where do you buy egg white powder from? I think you linked where in another post but my mind went blank as soon as I saw these babies ^^ thanks!

nipan - You should always use good quality baking paper, never the cheap no-frills stuff. If your macarons are sticking to the paper they might have been undercooked. If they are cracking it could be due to a number of a different reasons. I find cracking occurs if I don't leave my macarons to dry for long enough after piping, or if I bake them at too high a temperature. You might want to check out Syrup and Tang's Macaron tutorial, there are lots of great tips to help with troubleshooting any issues you have: http://www.syrupandtang.com/200712/la-macaronicite-2-basic-technique-and-simple-macaron-recipe/

Thank you for your quick reply Steph. Do you have any recommendation in any brand of baking paper? Is Glad ok? I ordered "If You Care Baking Paper" but unfortunately its unavailable for the time being.I heard to avoid overcooking of the macarons, we can put double baking trays/sheets, is that true? By the way I'm from Malaysia too...if I am interested in one of your sweet on your blog, do you accept any order?

nipan - Glad is fine. If you look at this recipe and most of my other macaron recipes, I mention that you should double up your baking tray to help with the heat distribution. I'm not in Malaysia, I currently live in Sydney, Australia and do not do orders, this blog is a baking blog which I do as a hobby in my spare time.

Comments are moderated and will be published ASAP. If you are viewing this on your phone, you might have to click the Preview button before posting your comment for it to work. People who comment make my day! ♥

An email to me for permission before reusing my images/recipes on your blog or website will be greatly appreciated, and you must must must credit me with a link back to the original post(that doesn't mean the front page) if you reuse any of my content. My photos and recipes CANNOT be used for commercial purposes without my written consent. DO NOT POST MY PHOTOS ON INSTAGRAM. There are no means to sufficiently credit me and I will report any photos posted on instagram as copyright infringement.